December 27, 2005

Vincent Schiavelli - RIP

Character actor Vincent Schiavelli died. He was only 57 years old. That's too young. He acted in everything from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He used his unconventional looks to his advantage in order to carve out a niche for himself in the acting profession. Of his list of movies, Death to Smoochy was my favorite performance because of the contrast between his looks and his character. He played a former star of children's television turned drug addict/killer for hire. I thought it was inspired. You would have to see Death to Smoochy to understand. The humor came a little bit from his odd looks - you can't imagine him as a star of children's programming.